Help for Heroes backs scheme to bring veterans into the heart of businesses

Friday 27 November 2015

Help for Heroes has welcomed the launch of a new scheme designed to assist Armed Forces Veterans in finding a bright future in the world of business.

Initiated by Barclays, the Veterans Employment Transition Support programme (VETS) is a partnership of leading companies and charities, including Help for Heroes (H4H). The partnership, launched this month, will support the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Career Transition Partnership (CTP) in helping service leavers as they seek to find employment, and provide mentoring, skills profiling, training, work experience, CV and interview skills and advice to Veterans.

Through the partnership, Veterans, including those who have become wounded, injured and sick, will also be matched to work experience and job opportunities that best match their skills and career aspirations, while employers will get advice on how to recruit and then utilise the particular skills of Veterans. The need for support comes after research by VETS revealed that many employers do not value military experience as highly as they should. VETS will work within the existing landscape of transition support activities and will share best practice to optimise employment outcomes for Veterans and employers.

The partnership will compliment work by the Help for Heroes Career Recovery team which ensures that wounded, injured and sick Veterans can identify a new, purposeful future and can translate their skills, experience and qualifications into a successful civilian career.

Susan Turnbull, H4H Head of Career Recovery, said: “Leaving the military and finding a new career can be daunting especially for those who are living with life-changing injuries and illnesses. Our wounded Veterans have valuable skills that extend beyond their military service and will make significant impact to an employer, offering real talent.

“The VETS programme will help match employers to this key talent pool and will lead to more opportunities for the wounded, injured and sick to create new careers which are challenging and offer a purposeful role.

“Help for Heroes is extremely supportive of this initiative and the difference it will make to the lives of our Veterans.”